She's Gone
by duchess-of-shipping
Summary: An AU/UA fic where Peko is the Chapter 2 victim instead of Mahiru. Kuzupeko with side Komahina. Don't like? Don't read. Rated T for some blood and language.
1. Death of a Tool

Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu sighs, tapping his fingers on his thighs. _Where was she?_

Recently, Peko Pekoyama, his bodyguard and best friend, had volunteered to patrol the beach for anyway out, and she wasn't back yet. Fuyuhiko knew it was going to take long (She was roaming a long-ass, big-ass beach that was as dark as Nagito was crazy), but Peko was usually faster than this, and if there was an intruder or a way out, she could carry both herself, her sword bag, and the intruder to the diner.

He'd seen her run 12 miles in 5 minutes without sweating so much as a single drop, so why was she being so fucking _slow?_

Akane Owari looked over at him, stuffing her face with a full plate of different kinds of foods.

"What's wrong, little gangster? Worried about Pekoyama?" She asks, her mouth full of food and her cheeks stained with grease and crumbs. _Ew..._

"N-No! I'm just anxious for her to come back with some news! And I'm _not_ fucking little!" He says, a bright pink blush on his face and a scowl to go along with it.

Akane looks at him like she doesn't believe him, but she lets it go anyway in the interest of eating more food.

Fucking sick.

Chiaki Nanami taps away at her PSP while simultaneously looking out of the diner windows for Peko.

"Are you sure she isn't coming in through the back to try to keep us on our toes?" Sonia Nevermind asks hopefully.

"Nah, Peko doesn't seem like the jokester type!" Nekomaru Nidai says loudly, cracking his knuckles just as loudly.

Hajime Hinata puts a hand on Fuyuhiko's shoulders, and since it's Hajime and Fuyuhiko slightly trusts him, Fuyuhiko doesn't shrug him off like he would with anyone else in the room.

"I'm sure Peko's fine; She's just probably being extra thorough so she knows for sure if there's a way out or not." Hajime offers hopefully with a reassuring smile. Fuyuhiko nods.

That did seem like a Peko Pekoyama thing to do, but she should've still been back here by now.

Then, Ibuki Mioda and Mahiru Koizumi run in with scared looks. Mahiru leaned heavily against the doorway with shaking shoulders and Ibuki has a hand on her shoulder with a scared look at everyone.

"Guys, we need help!" Mahiru yells, squeezing the doorway in a scared manner, The others stand up.

"What's wrong, Mahiru?" Nagito asks worriedly, gilding to stand next to Hajime. Hajime looks at him weirdly before he turns to Mahiru and Ibuki with a worried look of his own.

Fuyuhiko stands up, clenching his fists. _Please let it not be about Peko._

Mahiru wrings her hands. "W-Well..." The redhead says sadly.

"S-Something's wrong with Peko...We're not sure what to do..." Ibuki says

Befiore Ibuki can even finish her sentence, Fuyuhko pushes in between Ibuki ansd Mahiru and runs outside.

Outside, Hiyoko Saionji and Kazuichi Souda are crouched down in the sand under the moonlight next to Peko's lump of a body. Hiyoko's petting Peko's braids and Souda's holding her wrist with his index and middle fingers. Hiyoko looks up worriedly at the others.

"Big Sis Peko kept saying that she only wanted to talk to Big Bro Fuyuhiko. Dunno why, though." Hiyoko says, and Fuyuhiko falls to his knees next to Peko.

Her sword bag was untied and unrolled in a heap with her bamboo sword shredded to bits. A bright silver blade inside the bamboo shell was revealed, but it was broken and shattered to all hell.

And oh god, the blood...

There was a huge hole in Peko's stomach, and it was leaking blood out by the gallon. Peko gasped and clutched her stomach, soaking her hand in the horrible red liquid.

"Young master...I-It's you...You came for me..." She whispers, shaking. He crawls closer, and Souda moves aside so he can grab her hand. Tears well up in his amber eyes, and he tries to blink them away.

However, the action only results in the tears falling free and down his cheeks in fat droplets.

"Y-You're gonna be fine. You'll live." He says, more to calm himself down than to reassure her. Nevertheless, she smiles up at him anyway.

"No...I won't...but thank you for saying so." She smiles, but it falls and morphs into a grimace of pain as she clutches her stomach. She's taking shallow breaths, and the blood isn't stopping, no matter how much pressure Nekomaru applies to her stomach with his jacket to stop it.

"Who did this to you? I'll fucking kill them if it's the last thing I do!" Fuyuhiko grounds out through his teeth angrily. Peko shakes her head, taking in another shallow gasp of breath.

"No. Young Master...I'm sorry that i do not know who did this, and that I cannot be by your side for eternity like I planned, but do not avenge me." Peko says. She turns briefly away from Fuyuhiko to look up at Hajime, who's eyes are also welling up with tears. Komaeda has a hand on his shoulder for comfort, and he doesn't shrug him off. Rather, he seems to lean into it.

"Hajime...can you promise to take care of my Young Master for me? And please prevent him from killing. That is all I ask." Peko says in a soft, pleading voice as she smiles up at Hajime. Hajime nods with a slight sniffle.

"Y-Yeah...I'll keep him safe." He says, and Komaeda looks at him worriedly and hopes that he doesn't burst into tears.

He wouldn't know what to do if Hajime started crying.

Satisfied with that, Peko turns to Fuyuhiko again, lifting one shaky hand up to rest it on his cheek.

"Someone get me fucking Mikan! She'll help Peko!" He screams, looking to the others with tears in his eyes. The others look down sadly.

He blanches, and he's shaking, _oh God he's losing her._

"Please...I...I need you to help her..." He pleads, _oh God he's losing her._

Ibuki nods and wrings her hands, running off into the diner to try to find Mikan while the others stay with Fuyuhiko.

He turns back to Peko and grabs her other hand, tightening his hold on it to try to will some of his life into her. He knwos it's useless, and he knows that if Mikan can't help her then Peko is pretty much lost, but he'll be damned if he gives up on her...

Giving up on Peko would be like giving up on life in his opinion.

"Please...don't go yet..." He whispers to her, and she chuckles up at him, _he's going to lose her..._

"I will always be with you...even if you cannot see me..." She comments, rubbing his cheek gently. Fuyuhiko sniffs and clenches hsi eyes shut.

With a final sigh, Peko's hand falls away from Fuyuhiko's face, and her other hand goes limp in his. Her head turns away, and some blood leaks out of her mouth as her eyes shut forever.

As her life leaves her body, Fuyuhiko feels his heart shattering into bits. His stomach clenches. His spirit dies.

 _Peko Pekoyama is dead. He lost her..._

Fuyuhiko looks away from her body, clenching his eyes shut. _If eh doesn't look...maybe he can pretend it's a dream..._

 _Maybe she'll come back...maybe she'll come back if he pretends it's a dream..._

Mikan runs out and gasps, but Fuyuhiko's still sobbing.

Mikan was too late...she came too late...

 _Peko Pekoyama is dead._

Mahiru gently takes her body away form him, and he can feel someone's hands on his shoulders, squeezing him and trying to comfort him.

He didn't know what came over him, but his person's hands felt soft yet firm, like Peko's, and he just collapsed against them. He held them tight in his arms, and they just hugged him to their chest and rubbed his back like Peko used to do while he sobbed words like 'Please bring hr back' and 'I'm sorry' and screamed her name to the high heavens.

But no amount of screaming would help...

 _Peko Pekoyama was dead._


	2. Crying His Tears

"Fuyuhiko? Are you OK?" Hajime asks worriedly, knocking on Fuyuhiko's cottage door.

No answer.

"Suspicious. Why won't he help with the investigation?" Mahiru asks with a frown.

"I agree with Big Sis Mahiru. Why wouldn't he help with solving the murder...Unless he did it." Hiyoko says fially.

"Really? He was literally crying over her and your first instinct is to accuse him of her murder?" Kazuichi asks angrily.

"Hey, he could've been faking! Yakuzas could be great actors! They have to cover their asses from cops, don't they?" Hiyoko says.

"Plus, what do we _really_ know about him?" She adds on, shifting her eyes to the door.

"What's your damn problem?" Akane asks.

"I'm just saying!" Hiyoko surrenders, her hands up.

"We don't know the first thing about each other, either Hiyoko." Mahiru says gently.

Hajime sighs in a frustrated manner. "Well, if he was gonna come out at all, Hiyoko probably just ruined it." He says.

"Don't blame me, Big Bro Hajime! I didn't lock him in there!" Hiyoko protests.

"How do we know you didn't?" Akane frowns, and Hiyoko makes to hurl insults at the Gymnast, but one scalding look from both Hajime and Mahiru send them into silence.

"Should I kick the door down? Maybe he'll come out if he has no door." Akane grits through her teeths, cracking her knuckles.

"Oh, that'd be cool, Akane-Chan!" Ibuki cheers.

"I advise against that, Akane!" Nekomaru protests.

"Wouldn't that be a bit counterproductive? The only thing that will do is make him more angry with us. I believe we should just wait for him to come out of his own free will." Nagito comments.

"Look, guys, let's just go. Nagito has a point; he'll come out when he's ready." Hajime says.

"Hajime-Chan is right! We can't force him out, or he's gonna be angry!" Ibuki says solemnly.

"Well, more angry than he already is, anyway." Hiyoko mutters.

The others turn away from the door, walking back to the crime scene to try to get some investigating done.

* * *

Inside the cottage, Fuyuhiko was curled up on his bed.

The sheets were rumpled, things were turned over on their sides and broken, and Fuyuhiko himself was crying.

He heard all of what they said, and a deep anger flamed in his heart alongside his sadness for Peko's death and bubbled heatedly and incessantly in his chest.

That Hiyoko bitch really must be fucking crazy to think he'd kill Peko. Peko could kick his ass five times from Sunday if he came after her (Not that he would) and would still ask if he was OK and nurse him away from death. Why would he kill someone like that?

And for another thing, Fuyuhiko cared so much about Peko. He loved her with everything inside him. Hell, he damn near adored her!

Peko had always been there. She'd been there when he woke up, when he ate his meals, when he was at school in class or lunch or recess, when he was doing his homework, when he was out at the store, and even when he was just about to go to sleep. It was annoying at first, but after a while he'd felt weird when she _wasn't_ there.

He couldn't remember the last time when he hadn't heard her voice, when he hadn't seen a glimpse of her pretty, moonlight-colored braids, when he hadn't seen that kind, beautiful, strong face, or even when he hadn't felt her reassuring presence beside or behind him.

Peko was more familiar than family, and just as special to him- maybe even more so.

And he knew they all saw how hard he cried for her, how he screamed her name and pleaded for whatever God was up there to just breathe some life back into Peko. As embarrassed as he was that he'd lost his cool with those fuckers, but he couldn't help it.

It practically killed him that she'd been there for him all of his life,-attending to his needs, killing the people he disliked or felt uneasy around, listening to him, caring for him- and the one time _she_ needed _him,_ he was nowhere to be found, and she had died because of it.

 _But if I care about her so much, and if it kills me so much that she's dead,_ He thought, _then why am I curled up in my bed like a fucking baby possibly letting the killer get away with their crime?_

 _No. Screw that._

Fuyuhiko got up, tossing the blanket off of him with a fury so strong that were the blanket was a person, they'd be dead.

"Fuck crying like a bitch." He'd said to himself. He picked up a picture off of his bed and folded it into his pocket for some much-needed good luck.

It was of Peko, who had her hands clasped together at her chest. Her silver hair was in its two pretty braids, and an easy-going smile spread onto her face. Fuyuhiko's tear drops marred the bottom corners of the picture some, but Peko herself was unharmed.

"I swear I'm gonna find the bitch that did this to you, Peko." Fuyuhiko mutters to himself, hoping that, whether Peko was in heaven because of what a good person she was or if she was in hell for all the murders she was forced to carry out, she would hear him.

Fuyuhiko wiped his eyes and nose on his sleeve, walked to his bathroom, and took a fucking shower.

And right after getting changed into a new suit that didn't scream _'Hey, I've been crying for the past ten thousand hours make fucking fun of me please'_ , he walked out of his cottage and to the diner, where the others would most likely be.

* * *

The remaining students flinched as Fuyuhiko walked into the room. His eyes were bloodshot, his suit was slightly wrinkled, and his hair was a bit messy, but he looked otherwise recovered.

And he looked really fucking pissed.

"Uh, hey, Fuyuhiko! What-" Hajime started, but Fuyuhiko holds his hand up in the universal signal of 'stop talking'.

"I heard what you guys said, and I'm pissed." He says, a scowl on his face.

The others wince except for Mahiru and Hiyoko, who are still waiting for answers as to what he thought he was doing hiding out and grieving while the others were investigating.

Fuyuhiko could be pretty intuitive if he so desired.

"First off, I was fucking crying because the only girl I loved- no, the only _person_ I ever loved- and depended on and fucking trusted with my life is dead. Murdered." He says with a hard look at the two girls.

"Good enough for you?" He asks Hiyoko and Mahiru, and they turn away and train their gazes on a sympathetic Hajime.

"But if we still have time to investigate, I'm all for it. Least I could do for her is find out who slid a knife in her gut." Fuyuhiko continued. He said the words with a cool tone, but Hajime saw the deep, cutting pain in those golden eyes of his.

Nagito cleared his throat nervously, and everyone except Hajime turned to give him a glare. He laughed anxiously, and they slowly turned away from him and back to Fuyuhiko.

"W-Well, now that we're on the s-subject of her w-wounded gut..." Mikan trails off as Fuyuhiko takes a seat next to Kazuichi, who moves away from him in fear.

Fuyuhiko either doesn't notice or doesn't give a shit.

"Yeah?" He asks with a raised eyebrow. Mikan fidgets and clasps her hands together at her chest, but she continues.

"S-She wasn't stabbed." Mikan says. Fuyuhiko blanches.

"What do you mean she wasn't stabbed? Get to the point, pig bitch!" Hiyoko exclaims, and Mikan apologizes profusely. Fuyuhiko holds his hand up again before gesturing for Mikan to go on, giving Hiyoko a _shut up and sit the fuck down_ look. She huffed, but complied with his look.

"S-She wasn't stabbed. A-At least with a n-normal knife." Mikan stutters. Fuyuhiko blinks, trying to process the information Mikan just gave him.

 _Peko wasn't stabbed. Not with a normal knife at least..._

 _In that case, what killed her?_

Akane, seeming to read Fuyuhiko's mind for a split second, frowns at Mikan. "Alright, I'll bite; what _was_ the murder weapon?" The Gymnast asks quizzically.

"I-It was a butcher's knife. S-Someone literally b-butchered Peko." Mikan says, her pretty purple eyes that matched her pretty purple hair brimming with crystal tears.

 _Butcher's knife..._

 _Butchered..._

"Mikan, do you still have the knife?" Hajime asks. Mikan nods profusely.

"I-I know that w-we can't exactly check f-finger p-prints, b-but I _do_ have it in a plastic baggie w-wrapped in paper towels. J-Just in case." Mikan affirms. Fuyuhiko suddenly stands up again, much to the confusion of the others seated at the diner.

"Where it is? I need to see it." Fuyuhiko says, leaving no room for the others to question him, and judging by Akane's narrow-eyed stare and Kazuichi's fearful gaze, he guessed they most likely had a lot of questions.

Mikan nods, runs off to the 'hospital'of the island, and comes back with the knife.

"T-There. T-That's the knife that was l-left a few feet a-away from Peko's...um...b-body." Mikan explains. Fuyuhiko nods, staring at the knife along with the others through the see-through bag and transparent paper towel.

"Mikan, in your professional medical opinion, does the size of the blade really match the circumference of the wound in Peko's stomach?" Nagito asks, truly curious as he rubs his chin. Mikan nods, hands clasped at her chest once again.

"Y-Yes. S-Sadly, I h-had to drive it b-back into Peko's wound w-while it was still covered with the paper towel just to check the s-size. I-it's the right one." Mikan nods, and the others note the ends of the paper towel are covered with blood, most likely from when it met Peko's still freshly bleeding wound.

Fuyuhiko didn't want to think about that horrible hole in her stomach; it made him sick to his stomach to remember how her blood had stained the sand, and how _much_ of the blood he'd had to wash off that night.

"OK. This is our first lead. I guess." Chiaki says tiredly.

"Are you _ever_ encouraging?"Akane jokes lightly. Chiaki's only response to said joke is a snort and a shrug.

"Let's go investigate more. Maybe we can find some other clues." Nagito says optimistically.

"Maybe." Hajime hums, and the others begin to file out.

* * *

As they break off into separate groups, they make it clear through their words and actions that they thought Fuyuhiko had to be the one to examine the actual crime scene- AKA where Peko bled out in his arms while he sobbed for her to please just make it out of this alive-

He sighed, shook his shoulders to get rid of the sudden hollow hole in his chest, and walked over to where Peko had died, his feet dragging in the sand.

He didn't want to. He _really_ didn't want to. But what choice did he have if it involved avenging Peko in a way she'd approve of?

And so, with some new-found determination and a bit of a sick feeling in his gut, Fuyuhiko walked over to the crime scene to investigate.


	3. Investigating a Death

"Hajime? Are you OK?"

That was the third time Nagito Komaeda has asked that exact question. With that exact wording.

"Yes. I'm fine." That was the third time Hajime Hinata responded with that exact same sentence.

"Hajime..." Was Nagito's response. His tone was a bit gentle and sympathetic, but Hajime suspected that he could hear some traces of firmness, and a hint of reprimanding.

 _Well that's new,_ Hajime thinks as he looks for some evidence to try to figure out who murdered Peko.

 _Peko..._

God, this situation is fucked up. Peko is dead, Fuyuhiko is hurting, and Hajime can't see to find anything that can help either of them.

"Hajime, I think you should rest or something. You're overworking yourself." Nagito replies, looking for evidence as well.

"I'd really love to, Nagito, but I can't. I have to find out who murdered Peko; one of my friends." Hajime replies absently, not even looking behind him at Nagito.

If he had, he might have seen Nagito's worried olive eyes, and he might have caved to his request.

 _And besides, even if Peko wasn't my friend, Fuyuhiko is. And finding out who killed Peko would help Fuyuhiko get over his hump._ Hajime admits to himself.

 _Or it just might make him the second murderer."_ He sighs out at the though.

"Hajime." Nagito says again, and Hajime bites back a frustrated groan.

"What?" He bites back, and he can see Nagito's slight flinch. Apparently, Hajime had too much bite in his tone. He hadn't meant to put that much malice in his tone, but he couldn't help his frustration.

He wasn't frustrated with Nagito; he was frustrated with the situation. Nagito's talking, however, was less than ideal with softening said frustration.

"Ah, I'm sorry Hajime. I guess you wouldn't really want to heed the advice of a piece of trash like me, would you?" Nagito laughs, waving his hand as if it was of no concern.

 _Oh, he's doing that again._ Hajime sighs again. Finally, he turns back to look at Nagito.

"Look, Nagito, you're not trash, OK? I'm just exhausted." He sighs again. Nagito blinks before he laughs again.

"I appreciate your opinion, Hajime, but I'm really not worthy of your kind words." Nagito chuckles, waving a dismissive hand again. Hajime sighs, and Nagito's face changes to one of concern.

"But really, Hajime. You should rest. I'd hate it if you-" Nagito started, but he bit back his words.

 _What's he trying to bite back?_ Hajime thinks again, puttering around through the contents of the beach house, which was in the vicinity of where Peko's body was found.

If Hajime turned around and looked past Nagito (Which is a hard feat to accomplish, but technicalities aren't important), he could probably see Fuyuhiko either stroking Peko's deathly chilled face, looking around the crime scene for any additional evidence, or hunkered down on his knees sobbing into his hands once again.

Either way, Fuyuhiko was doing something to relieve his grief.

"Your hope, I meant. I'd hate it if your _hope_ was damaged or hindered in any way." Nagito chuckled, waving a hand dismissively once again. Hajime looks up from the walls of the beach house.

"Yeah, well, my hope isn't damaged or hindered. I'm just exhausted." Hajime replies before he goes back to investigating the beach house.

Something isn't right...

"Hey, Hajime, I think I found something." Nagito calls, poking his head into the closet. Hajime turns to him, waiting for his probable evidence.

Well, at the very least, he was trying not to look at Nagito's ass, which was right in his line of vision as the albino luckster was bent over inside the closet trying to retrieve whatever he had found.

He retreated out of the closet, and Hajime shook his head to clear his blush. Nagito raised an eyebrow, but he presented the item he found anyway.

It was a yellow gummy, no bigger than the space between Nagito's thumb and index finger.

Hajime takes it out of Nagito's hand, thinking and turning it this way and that in his grip.

"And then there's that." Nagito says, gesturing to the trashcan beyond the beach house...

Which was overflowing with plastic, empty water bottles.

Hajime rubs his chin.

Just as Hajime and Nagito were about to leave, Fuyuhiko walked up to them.

His eyes were still bloodshot, and his hair needed a little fixing, but he had a determined look set in to his childlike face, and his lips were pursed, like they always were.

Hajime didn't comment on the ribbon clutched in his hand, or the destroyed, deep aqua sword bang slung over his hunched shoulder.

"Did you find anything?" The gangster asks, tightening his grip on the ribbon. If Hajime looked closer, he could see that Fuyuhiko's thumb was gently rubbing the surface of the ribbon, as if the ribbon was the only keeping him living, and if it was ripped away or destroyed, Fuyuhiko would be destroyed right along with it.

Hajime had reason to say that that might just happen.

"Just that trashcan." Nagito says, pointing over to it. "And Nagito found this." Hajime says, showing the gummy to Fuyuhiko and putting extra emphasis that Nagito has found it.

If Fuyuhiko noticed or cared, he certainly didn't show it.

Instead, he nodded and turned to look around the beach house, the white bow on the top of Peko's old and torn sword bag swishing.

"How about you?" Hajime asks as Nagito rubs along the walls for any sign of irregularities. Fuyuhiko looks up, his face betraying how defeated he still was.

"Not much. Just her body, and I've already fucking seen it enough that I'll start having nightmares about it." Fuyuhiko says angrily, but Hjaime wonders if that's really true.

Maybe the nightmares have already started.

Still, Fuyuhiko looks up at Hajime. "We should meet up with those other bastards. Time's wasting, after all." Fuyuhiko says, getting up off of his knees and walking out of the beach house past Hajime without so much as an 'excuse fucking me'.

"Are we meeting up with the others, now?" Nagito asks, turning to Hajime, who nods.

"Yeah, we gotta go." Hajime says, waiting for Nagito to match his walking speed as he tries to keep up with a fast and determined Fuyuhiko.

Whoever did kill Peko, Hajime was hoping that they didn't value their face, because Fuyuhiko was probably going to make them unrecognizable once he was done.


End file.
